Parramatta are set to lose co-captain Junior Paulo for two matches after he was cited for a high shot in the final minute of the golden-point win over Penrith.
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Penrith's Mitch Kenny's high shot early in extra time gave the Eels the field position to ice the game with a Mitch Moses field goal, but the hooker escaped suspension with a fine.
Referee Ashley Klein sin-binned Paulo for hitting second-rower Zac Hosking high with a shot that gave Penrith the field position to force extra time with a two-point field goal from Nathan Cleary.
Eels coach Brad Arthur suggested Paulo may have been caught wrong-footed as he attempted to tackle Hosking, who was being spun from the waist in the tackle by Dylan Brown.
"I thought he was trying to jump over Dylan maybe. Dylan Brown was on the ground. It was unfortunate that he's fallen," Arthur said.
On Friday morning, the match review committee charged Paulo with a grade-two careless high tackle.
He will miss upcoming games against the Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers if he accepts an early guilty plea, but will be rubbed out for an additional match against Canterbury should he unsuccessfully fight his charge at the judiciary.
Paulo's suspension comes just as the Eels have played themselves into the winners circle. Bench props Wiremu Greig and Makaheshi Makatoa are in the selection frame to replace Paulo in the starting side.
Arthur said Paulo's tackle had likely been worthy of a sin bin.
"In the circumstances, if you hit someone in the head, that's what the rules have been. I've got no complaints there," he said.
Hosking told AAP he held no ill-will towards Paulo for the shot.
"That's the way it goes sometimes, fatigue and that, you lose your technique a little bit. That's what we did there," he said.
Kenny was also sin-binned for his grade-one careless high tackle on Waqa Blake but can accept a $1,800 fine, or risk losing $2500 by taking his case to the judiciary.
At full-time, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary lamented Klein's decision to sin bin the hooker.
"I definitely don't think it was a sin bin, a penalty maybe," he said.
"He was just getting off the line like he always does trying to make a play."
Eels winger Maika Sivo received a grade-one dangerous contact charge for his hit on Hosking in the shadows of halftime and will receive a $3000 fine given his prior record.
If he fights the charge unsuccessfully, he will miss two matches.
Australian Associated Press
